1920 – Pantages / Ed Mirvish Theatre, Toronto, Canada

Like many theatres of the time the theatre was constructed so that only the entrance was on a major thoroughfare while the main building fronted on a side street. At opening it was the largest cinema in Canada at the time with 3,373 seats. Pantages was later involved in a highly publicised rape trial which cost him his businesses. By 1930 this location was a dedicated cinema for Famous Players. Closed in 1972 to be subdivided as was the case for so many grand cinemas at this time. Closed as a cinema in the late 1980s after a legal battle between Famous Players and Odeon and restored to a theatre. Much of the original decoration was hidden behind drywall during the subdivided years, and was restored.

“The entrance of the new Pantages is located on Yonge Street, between Kinder and Dundas, in the heart of the shopping district, where an open vestibule leads to a spacious lobby elaborately decorated in the Adam style, with Ionic columns forming the divisions of the mirrored walls and rich draperies giving to the whole an intimate touch. The lobby itself is 22 ft. wide by .120 ft. long. Immediately at the rear a Sight of marble steps give access to the mezzanine promenade which is likewise tastily carried out and forms the focal centre of the service of the theatre. Retiring rooms are provided off this promenade for both sexes, and from it access is obtained to both the balcony and the marble staircase leading to the main Moor of the auditorium. This stairway descends in an elliptical well which gives the effect of extreme height to the rear of the house.

The auditorium proper also borrows from the Adam period and is decorated in general tones of blue and gold. Considerable study was given to the color scheme to eliminate the possibility of a cold feeling in the house due to the blue in the draperies and silk wall covering. An effect of warmth was obtained by the addition of gold to the blue, and by the use of warm colors in the decorative painting. This auditorium has the distinction of being the largest of any in the Dominion, containing 22,500 square feet, and seating thirty five hundred people. One feature of the scheme is the organ, located behind plaster screens in the side wall of the auditorium near the stage, with an additional echo organ in the space above the main ceiling near the rear of the house. There is also a broad promenade at the rear of the main floor with additional retiring rooms for both men and women, while a separate entrance from Victoria Street direct to the auditorium has been provided primarily for the accommodation of motorists.”
Construction, November 1920

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